“If we painted it pink, you wouldn’t know the difference,” says Don Dewar, president of Parkland BioFiber, the company poised to open a hemp fibre plant at Dauphin, Man., next year.
He said hemp natural fibre insulation is environmentally friendly because it’s from a renewable resource and it takes less energy because the process doesn’t need the high heat required to create conventional fiberglass insulation.
“There’s no itching or scratching and there’s no cancer warning on the label. Hemp biofibre insulation is a green replacement for pink insulation,” Dewar said.
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“Once the hemp has been cleaned and separated from the hurds, it is basically just raw cellulose material. There’s no food component to attract rodents, so we don’t need to add rodenticides. And, being a cellulose, it’s not prone to mould or mildew. The only additive is fire retardant.”
Research on hemp insulation in Europe has found that in coastal and other high humidity regions, hemp insulation absorbs moisture during periods of highest humidity and then releases the moisture later when outdoor levels drop.
Dewar said the Dauphin plant will produce hemp insulation with the same processing technology used in Europe. The European biofibre product has a slightly higher R rating than pink fiberglass insulation.
“But it’s only a slight R advantage. It’s not enough to be a marketing factor,” Dewar said.
“If we needed to be price competitive with fibreglass, we could do that. But that’s not the plan. We do not expect to compete with fiberglass insulation. We see this as a green product that will command a price premium. The marketplace and the green people will determine if we get that price premium.”
It may take up to a year to perform the necessary testing and get hemp insulation certified in Canada.
Other products planned for the Dauphin facility include flowerpots and hanging baskets made of hemp.
But Dewar said the most immediate demand for large volumes of processed hemp biofibre is as organic mats for erosion control. This non-woven material is used to stop water erosion along lakeshores, rivers and creek beds. As people focus more on stabilizing riparian areas, the need for biofibre matting will rise.
“Right now, we’re not sure which product will make the most money – insulation, erosion mats or hanging pots. But we will be flexible to meet whatever demand we see.”
The company also plans to sell bulk, cleaned, bagged hemp to other companies that want to incorporate biofibre into manufactured products. The price will be $300 per tonne.
Although fibre is the main focus, bagged hurd material also has a commercial value. The immediate market is bedding for livestock and pets. However, because the hurds retain a certain element of structural capability, American companies are blending hemp hurds into concrete blocks and roads.
“We can’t survive on just the fibre. We will also find markets for the hurds.”
When raw hemp bales arrive from the field, cleaning and separating the fibre from the hurds is the first step. Only a third of the volume is actual fibre. Half is hurds and the remaining material is dust.
Dewar said this cleaning and separating process constitutes half of the entire processing operation.
Fibre destined for insulation is blended with fire retardant after the cleaning and separating stage. Other fibre destined for pots and erosion mats is nearly ready for final processing after this first step.
To begin with, Parkland Biofiber will buy about 36,000 tonnes of baled hemp fibre per year at $100 per tonne, f.o.b. the Dauphin plant. Dewar expects that an 80 kilometre radius is a reasonable trucking distance for the fibre.
One acre of hemp that has been combined for grain will yield one to 1.5 tonnes of fibre per acre. A crop that has been grown specifically for fibre and has not been combined will yield between three and five tonnes of fibre per acre.
The Parkland Biofiber plant will cost $5.2 million and employ 20 people. The equity drive just started, with more than $2 million in the fund by Aug. 17. The deadline is the end of October.
Dewar adds, “we don’t have our sights set on building car parts or anything like that. But if someone else wants to take on a big project, we can sure sell them the fibre they need.”
Avanti Polymer is already incorporating hemp biocomposite blends of 50 percent and higher into some of its manufactured products. Avanti builds countertops, desktops and other commercial grade furnishings at a factory in Gretna, Man., close to the U.S. border.
Avanti owner Harry Funk said his company has been developing its own hemp technology over the past decade, and now uses hemp to replace fiberglass.
“We buy the raw hemp bales and use them to produce fibre and hurds. We’ve worked out various proprietary processes for automated mechanical cleaning and separating. We are at the frontier in this industry.”
Funk said the chemistry has been a big challenge, which is why Avanti has been working in collaboration with DowBio on a number of products.
Avanti will receive full green certification shortly, which will open up numerous new markets.
Hemp fibre has a high degree of structural integrity and it’s not as heavy as fiberglass.
“It’s stronger, it’s lighter and on top of that, it’s green,” said Funk.
Funk, who is in the lumber business, said the pine beetle infestation in British Columbia will have a direct impact on prairie farmers.
“Wood fibre is going to become a major issue before long. The pine beetle is going to seriously affect fibre markets. The beetle is laying to waste huge volumes of tree fibre.
“If they can harvest a dead tree within 18 to 24 months, it’s still usable. It can still be used for structural purposes. Then you have a very short window of time in which the tree can still be harvested for fibre only. Beyond that and the tree quickly becomes total garbage. Nothing left to salvage.
“I just got back from the B.C. interior. They can’t possibly build logging roads fast enough to keep up with the pine beetle infested areas.”
Mother Nature looked after the forests better than man. If there was a pine beetle infestation or some other natural enemy of the tree, those trees died, a lightning strike set the area on fire and the pine beetle community was destroyed. But man has been relentless in putting out forest fires, thus giving pine beetles free reign over the forests.
“As a result of all this, annual renewable crops like hemp have a major role in the future.”
For information, contact Don Dewar at 204-648-4649.
